The cost of love

  It was a question on Facebook. Did you reduce the number of Christmas cards you mailed this year due to the rising cost of stamps? I did not, but commented that next year may be an E-card Christmas! My card list is rather small, just 27 families. Still at seventy three cents per card it was nineteen dollars and seventy one cents. You do have to make sure the cards do not exceed the weight restriction, 1 0z. and that they are "machinable." Yes, it does cost extra if the mailperson has to actually sort the cards and letters manually, you know, do the job. But, that was all started as a cost saving measure, you know automation will save us millions. I was going to send a package but the cost was going to be fifty seven dollars and eighty cents. That was the lowest rate I was offered. I sent it UPS for twenty one dollars and fifty cents. 

 In years past I have "sent" a few electronic cards using Jib-Jab. They are mildly amusing. But the question is, are they as personal? For me they certainly are not. I'm still in the school of thought that hand written correspondence is far better than any electronic messaging when dealing on a personal level. Form letters and such are for business. E-mail is great for business and the advertisers love it. There is nothing personal about any of that. I did grow up hearing, it's the thought that counts. Thing is, that was usually stated more as an excuse than an actual sentiment or bit of wisdom. It is what you said in polite company knowing no one would dispute that. Yes, others must agree, it was a PC statement before there was PC. It's like saying, what a beautiful baby, you have to say that. 

 I do not count the number of cards I receive each year or keep a record of that. My mother did though, writing it down as a reminder. She made sure to send that person a card the following year. She would remove people from the list as well. All that stopped at some point. I'm not sure when or why but in latter years she certainly didn't send out many cards at all. Perhaps it had to do with the cost of postage. I remember hearing about that and laughing. It's only a few cents, what's the big deal! Now I'm at that age, it is a big deal. The cost of the cards themselves is a big deal. Hallmark, when you care enough to send the very best! What's the implication in that slogan. Don't be cheap or don't let other people know you aren't wealthy? Hallmark cards can run as much a five dollars a piece. Twenty seven cards equal one hundred and thirty five dollars. That's a lot of love according to Hallmark.

 Sending cards and letters is getting to be a quaint tradition from the past. Almost nostalgic these day. I confess to not writing many cards or letters myself, but occasionally I will. The reason is the obvious one, it is much faster and easier to use social media or e-mail. Practically free and instantaneous. That's a combination hard to beat. I have found that printing off a hard copy of that isn't quite the same though, it just seems like business when you do that. I have heard of people saving text messages on their phones, reading them over again sometimes even after the person has passed. In the old days some people saved letters or cards for much the same reason. Still, a hand written record is far superior in my opinion.

  I do not save cards or letters. I've known people that did having boxes full of those saved over the years. I will normally keep then for a week or so before disposing of them. I do have a birthday card my grandson gave me many years ago. Inside is five dollars, taped securely. I have not disturbed that in any way. I understand how much five dollars was to him at that time, he was maybe eight or nine. He cared enough to give the very best and it touched my heart. Occasionally I "find" that card and smile. It is the only card I have ever saved. I do enjoy receiving those cards, knowing that others are thinking about you is always a comfort. The sending of Christmas cards is a fine tradition. I read where that all began with Sir Henry Cole who commissioned the first commercial produced Christmas card in 1843. A hundred and eighty one years is a good run. Will e-cards replace that? Well, they just might next year if the postage keeps rising! 

                                                                             

                        Then and now. 7 cents in 1843,  73 cents today, but todays stamps are forever! Well, 

                         until they get the next increase.